About AJS

The Association for Jewish Studies is a learned society and professional organization whose mission is to advance research and teaching in Jewish Studies at colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning, and to foster greater understanding of Jewish Studies scholarship among the wider public.

Membership

With more than 1900 individual members and over 70 institutional members, the AJS provides an intellectual forum for university faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, museum and related professionals, and all those interested in the scholarly field of Jewish Studies.

Annual Conference

With more than 1100 attendees, over 190 sessions, a major book exhibit of leading publishers, cultural programming, and gala banquet, the AJS Conference is the largest annual gathering of Jewish Studies scholars in the world.

Publications & Research

The publications of AJS are leading forums for exploring Jewish studies scholarship and critical issues in Jewish studies methodology and pedagogy: its peer-reviewed scholarly journal AJS Review, its magazine AJS Perspectives, and its e-newsletter AJS News.

Membership Categories

Professional Membership

Professional Membership is open to anyone with a professional or scholarly interest in Jewish Studies. “Professional interest” refers to someone whose part or full time vocation is devoted either to teaching, research or related academic endeavors in Jewish Studies. “Scholarly interest” refers to someone who shares the intellectual interests of the Organization, but whose major vocation is not in Jewish Studies.

Graduate Student Membership

Graduate Student Membership is for graduate students pursuing a degree in an area of Jewish Studies. Graduate students who are employed on a full-time basis are not eligible for Student Membership.

* Student Membership is open to full-time graduate students who are concentrating in an area of Jewish Studies. Verification of full-time status must be submitted by the registrar of the institution at which the student is enrolled in order to qualify for Student Membership.

Why I Join

"AJS has been an important professional home to me for nearly two decades, providing support and opportunity from graduate school through full professorship. ... I am happy to give back to the organization that has given me so much."— Melissa R. Klapper, Professor of History, Rowan University

"I have been attending AJS conferences more or less annually for 20 years since my second year of graduate school when I decided to take the train from Philadelphia to Boston to see what I had gotten myself into. The AJS as an organization and as a community has not only been welcoming but has also been indispensable to my professional and personal development as a scholar."— Adam Shear, Associate Professor, Director of the Jewish Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh; core member of the Programs in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Cultural Studies, and the European Studies Center of the University Center for International Studies; AJS Review Coeditor

"In my decades as a member, I have been fascinated by all the changes in the field reflected in what happens within the AJS, the new trends that surface in its conferences and publications. I have also been deeply inspired-by the intellectual engagement but also by the ceaseless efforts to be supportive, to make connections, to knit so many different people and perspectives together into a scholarly community."— Steven Weitzman, Ella Darivoff Director, Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, Abraham M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures, University of Pennsylvania

"The AJS is a community that uniquely appreciates and attends to the complexities of sustaining Jewish Studies programs. I believe in the organizational mission to strengthen Jewish Studies scholarship and foster our vital presence in the academy."— Lori Hope Lefkovitz, Ruderman Professor and Director of Jewish Studies Program, Professor of English, Director, Humanities Center, Northeastern University